WASHINGTON (AP) — A nonprofit run by Black federal lawmakers launched a multimillion-dollar effort Tuesday to engage lower-propensity voters in key districts in the midterm elections, following years of dissatisfaction over traditional efforts to reach such voters.
The Congressional Black Caucus Institute’s “SO VOTE” campaign will seek to register and mobilize young voters, as well as voters in majority-Black and rural communities, across the South, Midwest and West. The campaign involves partnerships with dozens of local organizations, the institute said, with in-person and online outreach to voters often sidestepped by major political campaigns.
“For decades, as far as I can remember, there are those of us who have always complained about the fact that neither party spends the significant and requisite time with Black and brown and poor and rural communities,” said Marcia Fudge, a former Democratic congresswoman from Ohio who served as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the Biden administration.
“So we finally decided to take it upon ourselves to do something that we didn't think anybody else in the industry was doing,” said Fudge, who is spearheading the new effort alongside former Black Caucus colleagues.
Voter engagement efforts will cover outreach across Georgia and Mississippi, as well as target voters in 16 congressional districts that are likely to determine control of the House.
Instead of traditional television advertising, the campaign will convene local civic groups and houses of worship, as well as fraternities and sororities. The effort will also use some now-widespread techniques in political campaigns, such as geotargeting online ads and partnerships with local content creators for audiences who mainly receive their news online.
While the voter engagement efforts are officially nonpartisan, the Black Caucus' targeted races are in many regions where Black voter turnout could prove key to whether a Democratic candidate prevails in closely divided House districts. Cedric Richmond, a former Louisiana Democratic congressman who served as a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, said the effort would focus on repeatedly engaging voters in rural communities who feel alienated from Democratic campaigns.
“If you’re not happy with the way things are going, then voting is part of the solution, but it takes constant communication,” Richmond said.
The Black Caucus' institute has raised about $1 million for the campaign, primarily from individual donors, and plans to spend at least $4.5 million in the midterm election cycle.
The new outreach effort follows years of disappointment and frustration among some in the Black Caucus at the broader Democratic Party's efforts to court Black, rural and younger voters.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, an influential South Carolina Democrat who decried the lackluster voter turnout in the 2024 election, said the campaign "allows us to put to practice that which we have been proposing, and we have never had the resources to do it. But this year we do.”
The effort is also a response to Republican-led redistricting efforts in multiple states, said Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat.
“These Southern states are trying to minimize Black political participation and ultimately Black political strength," he said. “So what we have to do is take that low-propensity voter and elevate their participation so they become an additional voice to be reckoned with.”
FILE - Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., center, joined by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., left, stands with members of the Congressional Black Caucus during an event outside the Capitol in Washington, May 19, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace overnight, officials said Tuesday, less than a day after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that strikes close to the alliance's territory would drive the trans-Atlantic organization to increase its support for Kyiv.
The drone was downed near the village of Pratkūnai in the Kaišiadorys district, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of the country's capital, Vilnius, and near the Kaunas Reservoir, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center said Tuesday.
Lithuania’s military said that the incident marked the first time that a drone had been shot down in the country’s airspace. Authorities didn’t comment on the drone’s origin or purpose, saying the incident needed further investigation.
The incursion follows a speech by Rutte on Monday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he said that strikes “close to NATO territory” showed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror.”
“Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine,” Rutte said. He also pledged to bolster the 32-nation alliance's own defenses along its long eastern border with Russia.
The menace of drones has repeatedly loomed over the skies of Lithuania, which shares borders with Belarus, a key ally of Moscow, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Antanas Matutis, commander of the Lithuanian air force, said that the wreckage had been found, and the drone “likely” was carrying explosives.
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the crisis center, told Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT that the drone most likely entered from Belarus. It remained in Lithuanian airspace for about 30 minutes and flew along the outskirts of populated areas before being intercepted, he said.
In a separate encounter between Russian and NATO forces Tuesday, Denmark’s Foreign Ministry said that a Danish air force helicopter had been fired upon with flares in connection with “routine photographic coverage” of a Russian frigate in waters off the port of Gedser in the Baltic Sea.
“This is completely unacceptable,” the ministry wrote on X, saying that the Russian ambassador was summoned over the incident.
Meanwhile, Russian drone strikes continued across Ukraine following a social media post from U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed “not to hit” each other’s energy infrastructure.
Trump didn't offer further details on the purported agreement, and Russia didn't immediately comment on Trump’s post. Previous efforts to broker even a partial ceasefire have repeatedly fallen apart within hours, with both sides accusing each other of violations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday that Kyiv was “ready to support de-escalation” if the United States could ensure “Russia is genuinely ready to stop this war.”
But Zelenskyy said in a statement on Tuesday that Moscow had continued to attack Ukraine's energy sector, logistics and critical infrastructure, and that Kyiv had responded by striking an oil refinery in Syzran, a city in western Russia.
“There is no alternative to ending this war. And all forms of pressure on Russia must create the right diplomatic conditions,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Tuesday that Russian strikes on Kyiv had killed one person and wounded seven other people since the start of the day, with attacks carried out on the capital's gas stations.
Another two people were killed in separate Russian strikes in the Ukrainian cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
Elsewhere, Russian forces shot down 222 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
A “massive” Ukrainian drone attack sparked several fires in the Russian city of Taganrog, regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said. He said on Telegram that two apartment buildings and three private homes had been damaged, as well as an educational institution, agricultural warehouses and a site belonging to Russian e-retailer Ozon.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Kyiv's forces had targeted a drone production facility in the city.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo) CAPTION CORRECTION: corrects removes byline attribution
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo) corrects and removes byline attribution
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo) CAPTION CORRECTION: corrects removes byline attribution
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Monaco's Foreign Minister Isabelle Berro-Amadei walks past the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
